Thousands sign online petition

2018-05-16T23:29:59Z

Nearly eight thousand people have signed a petition to stop trams rolling through Palm Beach.

After public consultation in 2015, it was decided Stage 3B of the light rail would follow the Gold Coast Highway from Burleigh down to the airport at Coolangatta, but a local mum is leading the fight to get the route to go out west instead.

Karen Rowles has started a petition onChange.org, claiming the local community would be destroyed if tram tracks were built through the middle of it.

"Families, Restaurants, Cafes and Businesses will be affected, if not destroyed, by land resumptions to make room for the Light Rail," the petition reads.

It also claims the local koala habitat would be at risk, with hundreds of trees to be removed to make way for the track, while also raising concerns about crimes rates around Light Rail stations and potential zoning changes allowing high rises to go up in the area.

"We demand the $10 million for the Feasibility Study be spent looking at alternative routes for the Light Rail and not the Gold Coast Highway route," it reads.